Results are coming in after polls closed in Turkey’s elections on Sunday, May 14.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s share of the vote fell below 50 percent after early results published by the state-run Anadolu Agency.

The third candidate Sinan Ogan of the right-wing ATA Alliance performed more strongly than expected.

If no candidate secures more than half the votes in the first round of voting, a May 28 runoff will be held.

Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu will both be courting support from Sinan Ogan of the right-wing ATA Alliance after the relative newcomer’s surprisingly strong showing in Sunday’s vote, analyst Soner Cagaptay has told Al Jazeera.

“He got enough votes to be a spoiler and deny either of the candidates a 50 percent outright victory, likely forcing the election into a run-off,” said Cagaptay, who leads the Turkey Research Program at the Washington Institute in Washington, DC.

Cagaptay said both men would be trying to court Ogan, but the more conservative Erdogan probably had the upper hand.

Source: Al Jazeera 

BDST: 1310 HRS, MAY 15, 2023
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